Thanks to scientific and technical advances over the last hundred years, most people today are materially wealthier than their forefathers. Yet, by their own accounts, the improvement in the quality of their lives has not matched their material gains.

In fact, it may be argued that people once were happier and more fulfilled. For some, material affluence breeds anxiety, a gnawing fear that if someone doesn’t take away their hard-earned acquisitions, the end of their days will prematurely arrive to finish the job. Others find death easier to face than a lifetime of assembly-line slavery, while most, in a less dramatic fashion, simply buckle down to lives of quiet desperation.

In this new millennium, most individuals have no real grasp of the factors that govern their existence. And yet, simply stated, if they had a greater understanding of themselves and their fellows, they would be able to improve conditions and help themselves and others to live happier lives.